This invention relates generally to conveyor discharge apparatus for ejecting articles, such as fruit and vegetables, and, more particularly, to a conveyor discharge apparatus which selectively ejects articles from a conveyor onto selected underlying cross-conveyors.
Conveyor discharge apparatus have widespread and well-acknowledged industrial application, particularly because they significantly facilitate massive sorting, packaging, collection, organization or grading of articles. A variety of conveyor discharge apparatus which fulfill one or more of these purposes are known. By way of example only, they are heavily used in the fresh fruit industry where efficient and cost-effective sorting and grading of fruit is of paramount concern. One form of such apparatus is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,091 to Scopatz et al. It describes a fruit sorting apparatus which selectively deflects articles from the conveyor such that they drop onto selected underlying cross-conveyors. A separate solenoid-controlled, piston-actuated diverter is provided to selectively push fruit laterally off the conveyor for each cross conveyor.
While apparatus of this nature do tend to sort and eject fruit relatively quickly and in large quantities, they have disadvantages. A separate power source is required to actuate each diverter. This tends to increase the cost of fruit sorting, since it necessitates a rather large sized solenoid and piston to provide the necessary power to eject the fruit from the conveyor. Each separate power source of this nature also tends to impart an overly abrupt and excessive force to the fruit. Consequently, the fruit may be damaged.
By way of further example, conveyor discharge apparatus are also used for the purpose of classifying eggs into weight categories. In one such application, pneumatically actuated devices deflect individual cups carrying eggs such that the eggs fall under the force of gravity onto a discharge conveyor. This apparatus too, however, relies substantially on a separate power source to eject of the eggs from the conveyor.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there has existed a definite need for a conveyor discharge apparatus, and a related method of operation, which eliminates the need for separate, massive power sources for ejecting articles from selected locations along the conveyor and avoids damage to the articles otherwise caused by the ejection process.